Everything Happens For a Reason
by Uni Shall Not Sink
Summary: Muggle!AU. I walked into the food court in the mall. My own nervousness was hellishly annoying. Everything got better when I say the boy who would later become my reason to live. Although I didn't know that at the time...


**Everything Happens For A Reason**

_Scorpius_

_I walked into the food court in the mall. My own nervousness was hellishly annoying. Everything got better when I say the boy who would later become my reason to live. Although I didn't know that at the time..._

The constant punches to my rib cage winded me, and knocked me out of my trance. My mother, Astoria was hovering over me, drunk out of her mind, punching and kicking me like crazy.

When she seemed to have exhausted her need to use me as a personal punching bag she left my room saying, "See you in a week, no parties, or you will be sorry," I nodded and listened for the sound which would signal her having left. She and her stupid sociopathic sister were going to LA for a week, which I couldn't be happier about, really. It not only meant that my sister and I were free from her, it meant that I could spend time with my boyfriend, Albus, as well.

After a half hour or so the pain had died down enough to move, I got up and went to my computer. I updated my facebook status to "finally rid of the parental", and I looked at Albus's facebook, which said, "going over to my boy's house after dinner for a sleepover."

I smiled and commented on it saying, "You can come over whenever you want, I'm going back to bed, but Bella is up."

My older sister's name is Bellatrix, really weird, right? My parents have some weird thing for constellations, and it's actually a bit of a family tradition.

I woke up to the sound of Albus entering my bedroom. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which allowed me to see what his chest looked like for the first time. It was devastating, the bruises and scars all over the front of his body caused to tears to form in my eyes. Without thinking I got up to go give him a hug, revealing my own injuries, as I was only wearing boxers. I heard him gasp and his eyes appeared to be a little glassy. I cursed inwardly and looked down at my own body, with bruises and scars which looked far worse than Albus'.

"Wh-what happened?" Albus was the first to break the silence, but I didn't respond. I simply wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest, careful not to hurt him or touch any of his bruises.

How on Earth does one tell the love of their life that not only does their mother abuse them, but they also intentionally harm themself? By the look of Albus' chest the latter had had some pretty hard times as well... But it was far easier to talk about another person than reveal your own secrets.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me while I cried into his chest. Even if he had asked me why I was crying I wouldn't have been able to tell him. I never cried as hard as I did then, when I found out my boyfriend, my lover, was in such a state, despite all the physical and emotional abuse inflicted on me by my mother.

Who had done this to him? His dad was a war hero... could it be that the famous Harry Potter beat his own son to a pulp?

"Can you tell me what happened to you?" Albus asked softly running his hand through my pale blonde hair.

"Mum," was all I said. It was all I could say, I was too upset to even think straight, his grip on me tightened.

"Does she- does she hit you?" Albus asked, he too was now crying.

"Understatement of the year," I said quietly, closing my eyes as if that was a way to stop the tears from falling. "Only when Aunt Daphne is around, really."

"Scorpius..." his voice trailed off for a few seconds, like he was thinking about what to say, "Isn't she always around?"

I didn't say anything, I couldn't lie, I couldn't tell the truth, I was stuck. "She is, isn't she?"

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, like he already knew the answer. I nodded; there was no point in lying anymore.

"What about you?" I asked, remembering that he too looked like a punching bag.

"My brother, he has some anger issues." Albus said quietly and I tightened my grip around his waist, and he reciprocated by tightening his grip around my shoulders.

"Which one?" I asked after a second, Albus had two brothers and two sisters.

"James," he replied with a sigh.

I knew James Potter was a bastard, but I didn't think he was _that_ bad.

We just stood there for a while, holding one another while the other cried. His neck was warm and smelled like vanilla bubble bath. It was a good feeling to finally be able to tell him about my mum, about the part of my life that hurt me the most.

"What about Bella?" Albus asked after a while and I just shook my head. My mother has never touched my older sister, not that I know of, anyway. We went silent again, and somehow we ended up cuddling in my bed.

"When did your mum start hitting you?" Again, it's Albus that breaks the silence, and we're now sitting on my bed, against the wall, me curled up on his chest.

"When Naomi and Dad died," I said quietly, closing my eyes trying not to get a memory of the car accident that killed my little sister and father.

Albus kept quiet for a bit, probably calculating the amount of time which has passed since Naomi and Dad died. After a few minutes he said, "That was three years ago!"

"Three years, 7 months and 21 days." I confirm, and he looked at me, his emerald eyes staring fiercely into my own blue-gray ones. I tried to look away, but it was like he had me under some kind of spell.

"What about you?"

"It's been going on all my life, when I was a kid and lived in America it wasn't so bad, he wasn't that strong when we were both little kids. He would get pissed probably once a month or so, and he'd take it out on me. But then I moved to London and he lost his friends. He got angry, he flew into a rage, and I ended up in hospital. I was nine, and he was only eleven. Mum and Dad thought it was an accident. Everyday after that he'd hit me, say he was toughening me up... Year after year he would get stronger... I would get twice the beatings some nights if he was really upset. I'd never let him touch a hand on Lily or Taylor." he explained, his voice emotionless, silently crying.

I reached up and kissed his cheek, "Everyday I look for something to live for, and everyday I tell myself that I've found it. You're my whole life Albus. I love you, more then anything, more than love itself."

He smiled. "I love you too."

The rest of the day was uneventful. Before we knew it, it was late and we were really tired. I felt myself falling asleep in his arms while we were watching some tennis movie that was on TV. Bella had gone to her friend's house for the night, which was fine with me.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Albus asked me, lightly shaking me. The movie had ended and the end credits were displaying themselves on the screen.

I stretched and stifled a yawn. "I guess so, how long was I out for?"

Albus laughed his wonderful musical laugh. "The whole movie, about two hours."

I laughed as well. "Wow,"

We got up and went into my bedroom, I went into the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and took my clothes off, I was wearing my baby blue Spongebob boxers. I emerged from the bathroom and Albus was already in my double sized bed, I smiled and joined him. Unconsciousness soon engulfed both of us, and we fell asleep holding each other. It was as if nothing could go wrong... Or so I thought.

* * *

_Albus_

I woke up to the sound of yelling, crying, and screaming. If I was in my house I wouldn't have been surprised - I wake up to screaming almost every day of my life. But this was different. I wasn't home. And something was wrong, very wrong.

I opened my eyes and saw my worst frightening nightmare. Astoria was here, not in LA, and she was hitting Scorpius, really hard. I kept quiet and held my cries in, only letting the occasional sob escape my lips and after what seemed like forever she left, but not until she muttered, "Stupid queer."

I got up, as fast as lightning and went to Scorpius's side, he was beaten unconscious and there was blood everywhere. I rushed to the phone and called 999, and it took them 10 very long minutes, during which I sat there hating myself for letting Astoria get to Scorpius.

The medics rushed Scorpius to the ambulance. I wanted to go with Scorpius, but a detective from the Special Victims Unit, Marissa Howlett, wouldn't let me.

"Please sweetie, let the medics do their jobs, I'll bring you to the hospital after you answer some questions," Marissa told me. I must have looked horrible, covered in Scorpius' blood, tears flowing freely down my face.

"Now what's your name?" she asked.

"Albus. Albus Potter." I said quietly, through my tears.

"Okay Albus. What happened?" she asked me passing me a tissue.

"Could I maybe answer your questions on the way to the hospital, I want to be there when he wakes up." I asked politely, after I had calmed down and stopped crying.

Marissa agreed. I got dressed and quickly made my way to the detective black ghost car, getting into the passenger side. The ride to the hospital seemed like the longest car ride I'd ever been in. Marissa's questions were pretty basic - what happened, who was I, who attacked Scorpius. But the one thing I kept saying over and over was, "It's my fault."

"Sweetie it isn't your fault." Marissa kept trying to reassure me.

"It is!" I kept repeating, "He wouldn't have been as hurt if I did something, when I woke up I froze, I never helped him after I heard him screaming for help, after I heard him crying in pain, it's all my fault."

"Albus, what happened to Scorpius was his mother's fault. Not yours. You were afraid of getting hurt also, that's why you didn't do anything." I almost laughed at that answer, afraid? I was afraid of a lot of things, but being hit wasn't one of them, it was to be expected.

"I'm used to being hit, as I'm sure you seen earlier, I look like a punching bag." I said quietly. _Great, I'm in for it now,_ I thought.

She looked at me for a long second, "Why?" she asked. That was her only response. But that was all it took for me to start spilling my guts to her. I told her all about my brother, and it led to me explaining my whole life, pretty much. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and by the time I had finished my explanation, we had reached the hospital. I wiped away the tears that had fallen and before I got out of the car Marissa said, "It's terrible, what your brother does. I promise you, it will never happen again."

I just smiled and made my way to the hospital emergency room. Marissa showed her badge and the nurse on duty brought us to a room where Scorpius was lying groggily, half-asleep, in a hospital bed.

"Scorpius." I said and he opened his eyes, a smile crept onto his face when he saw me.

"Hi babe." he said breathlessly.

I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Hiya. How do you feel?"

"Better." he whispered.

I nodded and climbed into the bed next to him, it was a smaller bed but we both still fit okay. I wrapped my arm around him and kissed his cheek. "Everything will be fine now." I whispered as we both fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

_12 months later_

"Scor!" A little girl with long brown hair and a big smile squealed. Scorpius smiled at the girl and continued to tickle her sides.

Scorpius pretended to be hurt, for the sake of Albus' younger sister.

After Scorpius had been released from the hospital, Albus had been planning to move out of home and live with Bella. But when Scorpius and Albus had gone to the Potters' home, they had found Albus' parents in tears, struck with remorse and grief.

_"What's wrong mum?" Albus had asked and his mother just squeezed him tight._

_"I'm so sorry son. I didn't know, I would have stopped it. I'm so sorry!" she said in sobs not letting her son go._

_"Mum it's okay!" he said, "I'm just here to get my stuff and I'm going to move in with Scorpius and his sister."_

_"You will do no such thing!" she said sternly, "You can both stay here."_

_"Who are you?" Taylor asked looking Scorpius up and down._

_Scorpius laughed and squat down to Taylor's size, "My name is Scorpius, I'm a friend of your brothers, what's your name?"_

_"I'm Taylor and I'm three! I think I'm going to like you!" she said happily, jumping into the sixteen year old's arms._

"Hey, what are you two doing on my bed?" Albus asked over the sound of Taylor's giggles, making Scorpius look up.

"Scor is being mean, he's tickling me. I hate him," the four year old said crossing her arms and pouting, making her older brother laugh.

"Oh really? I thought you loved Scor," he said, picking her up and spinning her around making her laugh uncontrollably.

"Okay, okay, I was just jokin'!" the young girl squealed, making both boys laugh.

After a few hours Taylor fell asleep and the boys put her to bed. Albus's mum and dad had gone to a party, and wouldn't return until the following day.

"Imagine," Scorpius said, curled up next to Albus, "A year ago I would probably be fighting for my life, unconscious somewhere. Now I'm here, perfectly safe with you."

Albus laughed, "As am I. It's crazy how we just came into all this good luck, and my brother and your mum have left our lives. People always say things happen for a reason. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen. Either way, life will be simple now."

Both boys were safe in each other's arms and life couldn't have been more perfect. All was well.

* * *

_Written for:_

_Quidditch League Competition - Round 13 - Free Round_

_The Monopoly game Challenge - You've landed on Income Tax. The penalty is a minimum of 2500 words and the prompt is fright._

_The A-Mazing Race Challenge - Tennis_


End file.
